Alliance Marine: Heart of Darkness
by Panzer IV
Summary: When a Systems Alliance research facility went silent, the brass knew who they should contact for help. Sometimes, there are things in life not even training could cover; not even the encounter with the Collectors... post-ME2 event


**Alliance Marine: Heart of Darkness **

**Prologue: Pandora's Box **

It took about six months for any human who enlisted in the Systems Alliance to earn the title of a 'Marine'. Further, it took another three month for any colonists or Earth-born human to adjust and adapt into space-faring life. Settling in took about another extra one week, sometimes more depending on the surroundings or the work space. If you're applying for the research and development program, or the expeditionary team it will take another month for any cadet to learn and adapt with the high-demands of Alliance top brass. Qualifying for the Galactic language is easy, anyone who enlisted is expected to know it by heart in order to communicate with other alien races—mostly that means spending 80% of your life speaking such. In total, it takes about ten months or about a year for a civilian to achieve full-fledged Alliance citizenship and acquire a respectable rank in its military.

However, it takes three days to cripple a full-fledged Alliance Marine.

_Minos Wasteland, Caestus System  
Invictus,  
Terminus Systems  
0000hrs _

The flickering lights within the chamber slowly die as the last few echoes of life fades away. Amongst the blood-strewn bodies of Marines and scientists, a Quarian stands tall with an Eviscerator shotgun now dangling in one of her arm. The rhythm of her breathing is erratic, wild, uncontrolled as she observes the room behind her purple visor and grief at the sight of the dead. Slowly, she began to fall on her knees as pain began to rise up through her head. She cringe, wails, and grasp her helmet in hopes of releasing herself from the torment she was faced against. As it subsides, her eyes began to focus as she gathers her thoughts and recall the events that occurred prior to her state of madness. Here, sitting on her knees with an overheated Eviscerator at hand and blood spots all over her envirosuit, the Quarian looks upon the body of a single Alliance Marine mangled to deformity a few feet in front of her. She recognizes the wounds inflicted to the poor soul, its armor torn to shreds and its face blasted beyond recognition.

"_Shotgun wounds…" _she thought. _"Did I…? When did I…?" _

Trembling at the horror presented to her, the chamber lights continue to flicker erratically as she grasps her waist in order to gain the support she needs to stand. Her breathing slows as he steadies herself and recollects her thoughts. At one point, she felt she's going mad with the sudden change that occurs beyond the helmet—the chamber feels as if it's painted in blood, the bodies scientists and Marines seems to be moving, and most of all the dark figure that lurks in every corner of the room, at every angle, and at every minute the moment she closes her eyes. She felt as if something was observing her, watching her every move as she slowly descends into darkness.

"_Get up, Tali…" _she thought to herself, raising her hand to her visor. _"After all you've went through, you can't die here…right?" _

She froze. Her breathing went to a halt for two second as her hand smeared her visor with fresh blood, covering her vision partially. She closes her eyes, prayed with utmost dedication that it was all a dream—a_ very _bad dream and wished to wake up back in the Captain's Quarter in the _Normandy SR-2, _right beside the warmth and the loving grasp of her lover. She opens her eyes once more and finds it all true.

"_Keelah…" _she thought. Her mind began to jumble. _"Keelah…!" _

Her heart tenses, her breathing became ecstatic, and her eyes shot out in horror as she sees her bloodied hand and the blood-stained visor. Grasping her waist, she checks the mark where her hand had touched and—to her horror—finds the stain on her envirosuit. Was there a suit breach? What about infection? Her train of thought stopped the moment she noticed the presence of another.

Within this dead corner of the facility, she was not alone.

She trembles, her eyes darted left and right as the shadow from her surrounding began to move and encroach to her vulnerable position. She heard laughter unnatural to any species she has encountered as it drew closer and closer to her position. Clenching her shotgun tight with one hand while keeping the other on her wound, she spins erratically to wherever the laughter that surrounds her echoed through. The shadowy, dark figure began moving around for the kill, and she knows it. Yet she feels this is not the way her life should end, no. Two years of pain and loneliness is bad enough, and by Keelah dying here is comparable to an insult from an ignorant Volus.

Her omnitool came to life as the overwhelming presence grew and surrounds her. Quickly tapping a few button, she sends an urgent distress signal to the main team—Shepard's team—three floors above her. She needs to warn him of her findings, she needs him to know what was going on within the Alliance facility, how it lost contact, and what happened to the staffs and Marines. She needs to tell him the loss of her Alliance Marine team, the death, and the discovery that led her to this situation.

Mostly, she needs rescuing.

"This is Tali'Zorah of the starship _Normandy_. Shepard, if you can hear this…" her head throbs, the shadow that surrounds her grew in size as it began to engulf her in darkness. "Shepard, please…if you can hear this…"

As she descends into darkness, Tali could only remember one thing before the mission; the night where for the first time, she witness her lover commit an act of religious sanctity to his belief. His last words as he closes before diverting his loving eyes to her were as follows…

"_Deliver us from evil…" _


End file.
